I am not an experienced bike tourer but am a very experienced back packer. I always marvel at how loaded down a lot of self supported bike tourers are. I just did a week long trip on the Oregon coast with my wife and we had everything we needed and then some in two rear 3000 cubic inch panniers each. Her panniers were at less than two thirds capacity and she was carrying the cooking kit. I had one of those new Big Agnes 2 pound two person tents, a neo air pad and an REI sub kilo down bag all in one pannier with room to spare. The tie down buckle straps were at the shortest setting! We were perfectly comfortable with that sleeping set up. Bear in mind we have roughed it with bivys and tarp tents high in the Sierras. I had one guy say someone told him to take a tent big enough to put the bike in to do repairs - for one guy! You have to be kidding me. He said is load total was 75 lbs. I was carrying considerably more than my wife and i was in at 22 pounds for both loaded panniers. I even took extras like "town clothes", binoculars, an extra saddle i was trying out, running shoes, shower flip flops, swim suit and goggles and a pretty complete repair kit. We did not bring a computer. We had all of what we considered essentials like toiletries, camp clothes etc - my wife had a down jacket and full medical kit even.

After doing this trip i am more incredulous than ever at those mega loads i am seeing. What in the world are you guys carrying that you need to be loaded down like some kind of Asian bike mule going to market? I think a lot of tourers would be wise to do a few back packing trips to pare down the weight and bulk. Biking is much easier to carry loads of course, like sea kayaking. I remember once sea kayaking with a very experienced sea kayaker\forest service wilderness ranger where he pulled out a large melon on day three. Needless to say that is not something you would do on a backpacking trip unless you were training for the NFL or something.

We kept seeing tourer after tourer with the giant loads coming down the Oregon coast on 101. There are towns every thirty miles with grocery stores, restaurants, hardware stores, hotels for emergencies or really bad weather. My neophyte bike touring advice is to do some backpacking and put the loads on a diet. Speaking of diet we felt like the whole deal was very luxurious because we could be eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables everyday unlike backpacking.